The coziness continues under new ownership, which has spiffed up the signature knotty pine ambience and retained several can't-miss dishes, including what might be the city's best ribs.
Capsule review: When co-owners Brock and Natalie Obee called it quits in June 2007 after 11 great years, server Jill Wilson stepped in and bought the place lock, stock and recipe. Cafe 128, version 2.0, is still a swell just-under-the-radar charmer. Chef Ian Pierce is a master of the restaurant's signature dish, slowly braised pork baby back ribs. Other highlights: fork-tender beef tenderloin in an exceptional red wine demi-glace; pan-roasted chicken served with creamy polenta and a robust bacon-rosemary pan sauce; tender cod cakes with energetic Thai flavors, and zesty harissa-glazed shrimp.
(Rick Nelson, 2/21/2008)
One of my favorites posted by dan1922 on Oct. 9, '09 at 3:12 PM
This is one of my favorite restaurants in the Twin Cities. Don't let the basement location fool you. It has some of the best food around. The service has been uniformly wonderful in my experience. You can't go wrong with the roasted garlic appetizer and the bbq ribs. Really Great!
Rating: *****
Perhaps the most creative menu you'll encounter at a bowling alley. The postage stamp-size kitchen cranks out an appealing range of snacks and full meals: grilled bison over field greens with a buttermilk-blue cheese dressing, a fantastic potato salad, salmon with tarragon pesto and basmati rice, a spicy pad Thai, an artisanal cheese plate with locally raised smoked trout, one of the city's best burgers (made with grass-fed Minnesota beef) and a justifiably popular carrot cake. Breakfast (scrambles, biscuits and gravy, omelets) is hugely popular, particularly on weekends. The beer and ale list is exceptional, as is the affordable, adventurous (particularly for a bowling alley) wine list.
Chef-owner Isaac Becker does beautiful work with such high-brow fare as sea scallops with wild mushrooms and seared ahi tuna with chimichurri sauce. But don't miss his great takes on basic bar grub: the sweet-and-sour crab salad, cold cuts-pickles plate, bacon-harissa sandwich, one of the Twin Cities' best burger. Full menu served to 1 a.m. Monday-Saturday. The restaurant was the Star Tribune's 2005 restaurant of the year. Becker is a 2008 and 2009 nominee for Best Chef: Midwest by the James Beard Foundation Awards.
At this laid-back coffeehouse, expect to find an ambitious live-music schedule (performed in an adjacent music room), a nicely retro setting and inexpensive fare that effortlessly swings from breakfast (burritos, oatmeal, waffles) to dinner (black-bean burger, smoked trout salad, aoili/three-cheese grilled sandwich). Beyond coffee, there's an impressive beer selection (including 24 tap choices, from Bell's Oberon Ale to Frostop root beer) and more than a dozen affordable wines by the glass.
A Minnesota dining icon. Unscripted short-order theatrics ("Short stack, two smoky mush with ham on a round and short-short whole-wheat Wally blues") are an off-the-menu side dish that's usually served up at tiny, 14-seat Al's. And the main course? Pancakes. You can't find better ones anywhere, particularly the slightly tangy buttermilks, which fry up hazelnut brown and laced with crunchy walnuts and pert blueberries. Al's griddlemasters also craft the best waffles in the state, sizzling bacon, perfectly poached eggs and big fluffy stuffed omelets. A Dinkytown institution, Al's is a 2004 winner of the James Beard Foundation's "America's Classics" award.
A modern-day diner that serves breakfast all day - three-egg omelets, scrambles and pancakes - plus panini, soups and salads at lunch and dinner. The name is a play on the counter-service set-up - no waitresses - and a nod to the clever retro decor, which includes covers from the kind of tawdry dimestore-novels that could conceivably feature a hash-slinging gal gone bad.
Wine: Short selection, with a half-dozen offbeat beers.
Barbette focuses its considerable creative energies on incorporating local, seasonal, and organic ingredients into uncomplicated, classically satisfying bistro fare, served in quirky, vintage-store surroundings. The menu changes weekly. Recommended dishes: Amish chicken, pork tenderloin, Nicoise salad, steamed mussels, beet salad, croque monsieur, daily tartare, sweet and savory crepes, chocolate fondue. The late-night menu ranks as one of the best in town.
Wine list: Extraordinary collection of affordable, unusual labels.
The schnitzel and sauerbraten are good year-round at this friendly, unpretentious German restaurant, and on a sunny summer day there's no more blissful place to quaff down a stein of Hacker-Pschorr or carve up a bratwurst than the lovely patio at the Black Forest Inn. Sculptures and a fountain adorn the partially shaded dining area, and there is even a retractable canvas roof in case of an unforeseen downpour. All the German classics are available, from Wiener schnitzel and sauerbraten to the best apfelstrudel in town. If you are looking for lighter fare, the choices range from a seafood salad and a vegetarian lentil spaetzel to a grilled salmon kebab and an Alsatian sauerkraut casserole.
Traditional English fare including Scotch eggs, bangers and mash, Cornish pasties, as well as salads, burgers and vegetarian dishes. Upper-level patio with outdoor dining and grass lawn for lawn bowling.
It's all about pasta at this south Minneapolis gem, a value-oriented offshoot of the Broder family's popular Broders' Cucina Italiana,located across the street. The ever-changing seasonal menu could include a bowl of pitch-perfect al dente spaghetti singing with lemon, basil and trout, or dill-flecked linguine twirled through colorful kale and chard, chickpeas, shrimp and bits of tangy feta. The lasagna has woody mushrooms layered between sheets of spinach and egg yolk pasta and then bathed in a golden saffron cream sauce. The all-Italian wine list is approachable and affordable.
Nothing seems to have changed at Cafe Maude, yet everything feels -- and tastes -- a little different. That probably doesn't make sense, but when chef Burke Forster took over earlier this year, he was stepping into a well-established act. His predecessor, chef Aaron Slavicek, had been feeding hordes of happy people on a patented mix-and-match blend of bar snacks, small plates, side dishes and entrees. Even after three years, the place still enjoys a reputation as a coveted reservation. Forster, a Wayzata native with tons of work experience in New England, has wisely inserted his own aesthetic into that winning format rather than bust the menu wide open and start over. On the small-plates side, he glazes meaty spare ribs with hoisin and ginger, and puts a flavorful char on lamb skewers, finishing them with a mint- and garlic-tickled yogurt. There are hot chile and bright lemongrass accents in a velvety tuna compote, and rice croquettes are perfectly crisp outside, perfectly creamy inside. The flatbreads -- long ovals with pizza-like crusts -- boast imaginative topping combinations (don't miss the ham-pear-asparagus), and larger plates swing from gigantic seared scallops dressed with bacon and curly Brussels sprouts leaves to a daily vegetable risotto to a sizzling ribeye gleaming with a rich mushroom glacé. It's obvious that Burke pays close attention to minor details -- for example, a side dish of sweet roasted beets is jazzed up with mint and a finishing splash of balsamic vinegar -- and basics like burgers and roast chicken are handled with flair and care. A new kids' menu -- barbecued ribs with corn bread, grilled chicken skewers with rice -- dares to go beyond chicken tenders and corn dogs. Oh, did I mention the three-course Sunday and Monday night dinner, a steal at $25? Yeah, Miss Maude is in very good hands.
Colorful, hip and perpetually packed, this enormous, always busy restaurant and bar emphasizes highly seasoned street foods from equatorial regions from around the world: India, Indonesia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Orient, served in meant-to-be-shared portions. Can't get a table? Hit the satay bar for a quick meal. A late-night happy hour knocks out tacos and other fast food at bargain-basement prices.
The Dakota's bar, restaurant and peerless live-music venue all
work in well-rehearsed harmony. The food boasts the nuance, imagination and technical prowess of some of the city's top kitchens, but its tone is playfully approachable and full of surprises. At dnner, highlights include crostini with a glossy smoked trout rillette; fried oysters on a celery-root salad; curry-rubbed pork, roasted in an apple cider grilled lamb, and even plain-old roast chicken and wild rice. The wine list has a wide range of all-American choices.